Drexel University College of Medicine along with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia received contracts today to manage two new study sites in The National Children’s Study. The institutions will manage local participation, recruitment and data collection in Schuylkill County, Pa, and New Castle County, Del. The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Drexel University College of Medicine has announced the next installment of the Drexel Medcast™, a monthly medical podcast featuring leading academic physicians and scientists from the Drexel University College of Medicine faculty. This month features an interview with Carol Lippa, M.D., professor of neurology and director of the Memory Disorders Program at Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Lippa discusses Alzheimer’s disease, including the latest in research.

Richard Hamilton, M.D., chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine is leading the team that is evaluating the medical suitability of future commercial space travelers. Training for the first people to travel into space on a non-government sponsored vehicle is currently underway at Environmental Tectonics Corporation’s National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR^SM) Center in Southampton, Pennsylvania. The company has planned a grand opening launch ceremony October 4, which is open to the media. (www.nastarcenter.com/launch)

Mark E. Alden, M.D., has been appointed as interim chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Drexel University College of Medicine. Alden, a clinical associate professor, has been with the College since 2000. He became vice-chair in 2002.

Drexel University College of Medicine is pleased to announce the formal designation of the College’s Spinal Cord Research Center. Since the spinal cord research group was established more than 25 years ago, it has evolved into one of the premier research centers in the study of spinal cord injury, and remains the only center of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic region. The center has 15 primary faculty members, 10 affiliated members and a staff of more than 20 postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and technicians dedicated to developing and translating promising research strategies into clinically relevant protocols.